Those Left Behind
by WickChick6
Summary: Ever wondered if fictional characters actually exist? Well, the truth is, they do. They are spirits from the world of the dead that get given new memories, personalities and appearances to suit the story. But sometimes, rather than making it to their alternate dimension in which their story takes place, they get stuck on Earth. And then, they can get transported back... (LotR)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N My first fanfiction! So nervous. Anyway, The characters featured in 'Those Left Behind' are based off my real-life friends, so hopefully they won't turn into mary-sues, and, yeah, that's about it. Goldie Gamgee helped me with this one, so special thanks to her! (Please go check her out if you haven't already, she is an amazing writer.) Anyway, on with the story! :D**

Have you ever wondered where fictional characters come from? People say they come from imagination, from nothingness. But others argue something quite different.

You see, when a writer dreams up a seemingly original and purely fictitious person, what they are actually doing is summoning a spirit from the world of the dead, moulding them slightly to perfectly resemble the picture in their mind, and sending them off into the world that they made up. An alternate universe.

But when a writer dreams up a character and then dismisses it, thinking the story to be better without the character, the person is in a spot of bother. For they belong no longer to the world of the dead, and the story of which they do belong is already being written without them. So instead, they are reincarnated as a human on Earth, which is where all the stories originate.

Now, these people can be unstable, as they don't belong on Earth. So sometimes, they can vanish suddenly and land in the world they were meant to live in. But when this happens, there is no going back. They are forced to either adapt to their situation and follow the plot, or destroy their world.

This is the story of five such beings, and their adventure in Middle Earth.

...

Shouting, yelling, screaming. It didn't stop. It was thunder in her ears. Oh why didn't it stop? She was having such a nice dream. She was being taken to a better place. A magical place. She had never particularly liked Earth, for she had always felt out of place, and often wished she could go somewhere magical. This obviously couldn't be it. There was too much noise.

"There! A man! Gondorian, by the look of 'im! What do you think eh, Lurtz? Capture or slaughter?"

Slaughter? No, that didn't sound right. Nothing like the average buzz of her apartment, with the occasional shout outside her window. So, with involuntary protest, Aaria Jane Greenewood pried her eyelids apart, gazing around drowsily. Amazed, she found she was lying on dewy grass, the sun producing miniature rainbows amongst the tiny blades. In front of her were bushes, and trees behind. She sat up, suddenly wide awake.

"Bugluk, your ears are infested with maggots! Master told us to capture the hobbits, and kill those who stand in our way! Now what do you think the answer is?"

There it was again, those strange voices. She peered through the bushes and saw two men standing alert, brandishing curved scimitars. Man, where could anybody get those, and why? A better question, why was she here? She had no way of knowing, but these men seemed dangerous somehow, so she kept quiet, studying them. They were moving now, with a strange, jerky gait, towards something -or someone. She followed them silently, from beyond the tree line. The shorter of the two, Lurtz or whatever he was called, motioned for the other to wait, as he produced a bow. Nocking an arrow, he aimed for a dark shape a few meters away. Aaria realised what was happening, and burst out from the tree line, shouting for the man being aimed at to move. Suddenly startled, Lurtz released the arrow, sending it whizzing into the trunk of a nearby tree. The man turned around, brandishing a large broadsword in one hand and an intricately carved horn in the other. Suddenly he came sprinting toward Aaria. She gulped. Uh-oh, maybe she shouldn't have interfered...

She darted out of the way, yelping, as he charged right past her. She had expected him to turn around and go after her again, but no, instead he kept on charging toward the other two men, and with a yell of "FOR GONDOR!", he beheaded both of them.

Aaria brought her hands to her face, wide eyed with shock, as one of the heads slowly rolled across the grass toward her. She removed her hands and stared down at the black, leathery skin, the flat nose, the squashed face, the slanted yellow eyes and the mouthful of yellowed fangs. This was no ordinary person, she knew that much. But it looked familiar somehow... Almost as if, she had seen it before.

She looked up as the man with the horn approached her.

"You have my thanks, shield maiden. I am Boromir of Gondor." He paused, and it took Aaria a while to figure out he was waiting for her to speak.

"Uhh... I am Aaria Greenewood, of New Zeala- Wait, did you just say Gondor?" Boromir looked confused.

"Yes...? Where is this 'New Zeallah' you speak of?"

"New Zealand. It's... I don't know. Where am I?"

Boromir frowned.

"At the summit of Amon Hen."

Aaria returned the frown.

"What city?"

"City? There are none for miles."

"That isn't logically possible though...Wait…"-Aaria bit her lip-"What year is it?"

Boromir studied her.

"February the 26th of the 3019th year of the third age."

Suddenly everything seemed clear. She wasn't in New Zealand. It wasn't the year 2019. She was in Middle Earth in the time of The War of the Ring.

That was the last thought that entered Aaria's mind before she collapsed.

**A/N Yay! Thanks so much for reading! So, I'll probably be posting the next chapter in a few days or so, but until then, please review! It helps me so much, because until now, I've never really had a chance to share my writing with anybody, so I don't really know what people think of it... :/ Anyway, review! :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Hey guys! :D So, second chapter, yay! Thank you to my only reviewer, the one and only Goldie Gamgee herself and to Aliena Wyvern for looking at it. :) So, aside from that, this was a pretty short chapter, (as well as last) but I promise they will get longer eventually. I had fun writing this chapter actually, and, assuming that's it, enjoy! :D**

"Some say love… It is a river... That drowns... The tender reed..."

"Some say love... It is a razor... That leaves... The soul to bleed..."

The teens sang. Aaria and Sam on Soprano, Ashley and Cheese on Contralto, Mitchell on Countertenor and finally, Alex on Baritone.

Cheese's name was actually Chelsea, but her little sister couldn't pronounce it when she was little, so from that point on, her name was Cheese.

"Some say love… It is a hunger... An end... less aching need..."

"I say love... It is a flower... And you... It's only seed..."

At 'and you', Aaria turned her head a little to glance at Mitchell. She didn't understand how anybody could be that gorgeous. With his shoulder length glossy brown hair that always fell into his deep brown eyes, and his white, glowing skin that could give Snow White a run for her money. He was perfect. From his intelligent, quirky personality to his incredible laugh.

She shook herself out of her somewhat ditzy state, as she realised she had mucked up the words.

...

Fifteen minutes later, Aaria, Cheese, Alex and Mitchell were outside walking to their area of the school. They always hung out near the back along with about twenty other students in their year. They were greeted by Selena, one of the girls in their group.

"Hey guys! Didn't think you'd remember. We have art now."

"Ugh... Great, I have to starve for the fourth lunchtime in a row." Aaria groaned. "Guess I'll just have to eat Cheese."

The five laughed.

"Oh, ha ha ha. Pick on the ginger." Chelsea pouted sarcastically.

"Well, I have to go now, guys, bye." Alex waved.

"Oh come on, Tory isn't that urgent." Mitchell teased. Tory was Alex's girlfriend.

Alex grinned and batted his eyelashes. "Yeah, but I have to keep up the cover if you and I still want to be together." He replied to Mitchell, his words dripping with sass.

Those two were the weirdest in the school. They weren't really together, they weren't even gay, they were just really fucking weird.

"Love ya babe," Mitchell called to Alex as he walked away, blowing a kiss.

Aaria rolled her eyes, trying and succeeding to disguise the butterflies suddenly awakened in her stomach at the sight of Mitchell's puckered lips.

"Well, on that happy note, we'd better be heading off. Come on, guys." Cheese butted in. The other two girls nodded and turned to look at Mitchell.

"Bye, Mitch." They said in unison, afterward looking at each other and smiling weakly. Selena liked Mitchell as well, and they drooled over him together whenever they could. As soon as the three were out of earshot, Cheese rolled her eyes and turned to face the other two.

"Smooth moves, ya pair of twats." She giggled.

"Shut up!" They said, once again, in unison. They three paused, glancing at one another, and laughed.

...

Six years later, Aaria found herself living in an apartment with her abusive boyfriend. She hadn't seen her old friends from high school for years, and she hadn't made any new ones since. What little money she earned was from regular busking, which she would accomplish by bringing out her old violin and singing along to various songs from popular movies. 'May it be' from 'The Fellowship of the Ring' was one of her favourites, and was quite popular.

Aside from her music, which was one of the few things she still enjoyed in life, her life was absolutely shit. She was nothing like the happy girl full of life as she was at thirteen. Instead she was miserable. She had no job. No job meant no money, no money meant no university, no university meant no diploma and no diploma meant no better job. Her boyfriend Vern certainly didn't help. She honestly didn't understand why she was still stuck with him. He had been absolutely incredible when she had first met him, about a year ago, but now he was showing his true colours. All he did everyday was play video games that they couldn't afford and drink. He was always drinking. The living room of their small apartment was filthy, with stains on the couch, dirty clothes, crushed beer cans and chip packets strewn around the floor. She tried her best to keep it tidy, but it always seemed to reaccumulate, so she gave up. And that was the better side of Vern. Whenever she didn't do as she was told of didn't bring enough money home or something insignificant like that, he would lash out. And he was a big guy, and very strong despite his not so great health and fitness. One time he had beaten her so badly her skin was purple with bruises for a month.

Aaria's life was horrible. Oh how she wished she could go someplace different. Someplace completely different from her life here. Someplace where she could have a fresh start.

If only that was possible.

...

Selena was having a nice dream. She was being taken to a better place. Better than Earth and all its death, destruction, pollution. A fresh start. The bed was soft against her back, the blankets warm on her front. She was happy. That is, until she started getting dragged out of bed. She groaned in annoyance, rubbing the sleep crust out of the corners of her eyes, and opening them wide. What she saw made almost made her scream.

She wasn't lying with her back against the bed and the covers on her front. Instead her bed was grass and the blankets the sun, reading about 11:30. So where was she? And who was dragging her along the grass?

As she was looking around, she caught sight of a flash of red hair and did a double take. It looked a bit like a woman, with pale skin and freckles. Her eyes were closed, she seemed to be unconscious.

'Cheese?' She wondered, before she lost sight of her.

Shaking her head, she looked down, as she was being dragged legs-first, and screamed at the horrible sight she saw. The man dragging her had black skin, with slanted reptilian eyes and yellowed fangs protruding over his bottom lip. He grinned when he saw her awake, teeth dripping with disgusting, slimy saliva.

"Go to sleep, little Hobbit." Was the last thing she remembered before a great black fist rapidly closing the gap between the man and her skull.

…

_"Look- She's waking up!" _A voice whispered. There was a weird scuffling noise, and the feel of breath on her cheek. Selena set her jaw. _It was just a dream. It was just a dream. It was just a drea-_ Too late, she had already opened her eyes, and was screaming once again.

A hand grabbed her jaw and locked it firmly into place, preventing any more sound from escaping. _You're not real! It's only a dream! _But it was not a dream. Peregrin Took and Meriadoc Brandybuck were indeed staring down at her.

**(Dun dun duuuuun...) Stay tuned for chapter 3, and, if you could, please please pleeeease review! They make me feel warm and fuzzy happy feelings. :)**

**(UPDATED: Added Selena's PoV 12.12.2014)**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Hey guys! :D Welp, Goldie keeps pestering me for new chapters, and I have no life, so here it is! XD (Sorry, they will get longer in the future, I just couldn't be bothered to add more, so decided to release this one early. :/)**

Aaria shivered. Why was she suddenly having all these weird dreams? First she was in Middle Earth, and then she was back in Highschool. Strange to be remembering the times when she was thirteen. Ah, but they were good times. She wondered if she would ever get to see her old friends again.

She had heard Selena had gone to film school, and both Alex and Mitchell were at Massey University. Alex was taking coding courses while Mitchell was studying Biology. He had always been fascinated by plants.

Strange… she could almost smell the wildflowers.

She opened her eyes, and didn't know whether to scream, faint again, or sob. Her first dream wasn't a dream. She was greeted by the fair, rugged face of Boromir as he studied her, a mixture of confusion, interest and relief that she was awake etched into his expression.

Groaning in annoyance, she stood and looked around. With her and Boromir there stood a tall man with dark hair, another tall man with blond hair and pointed ears, and a short, stocky man with red hair and a beard.

Could it be? Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, it seemed. Aaria was familiar with Lord of the Rings, being quite a fan of the work of Tolkien when she was in high school. But she'd never thought she would ever get to see them in person.

Boromir opened his mouth to speak, but closed it soon after, not having the words. It was Gimli who spoke first.

"Boromir here says he found you passed out, about to be attacked by orcs, and saved you. Do you have a name, lass?"

Saved _me_? Yeah right. Aaria glared at Boromir, but he didn't look at her. She rolled her eyes. Men and their pride.

"Aaria Jane Greenewood. I am not from here. I am from a far off land by the name of New Zealand. You won't have heard of it."

Aragorn frowned.

"New Zealand? That name doesn't sound like something born from the tongues of Men, Elves or indeed any race I have heard of. Where is this 'New Zealand'?"

Aaria hesitated.

"I do not know. I just woke up here, that's all I can say."

She didn't feel it wise to be informing them of her current dilemma, and so refused to fully answer any other questions they had for her, playing the part of innocent, lost little girl perfectly.

Partway through their conversation, she spotted a flash of reddish hair and pale skin through the foliage. She frowned, squinting.

"...Cheese…?" She muttered.

The others frowned and turned to see what she was looking at.

"Cheese!" She exclaimed when the person had slid into view, as she broke into a run. She tackled the woman to the ground, hugging her tightly.

"Wait, what the heck- Aaria?!" Cheese whispered, struggling to stand.

Aaria released her and stood back to look at her.

"Oh my God, it's been so long!" Cheese grinned, hugging her again.

"I know, five years." Aaria grinned.

"Where are we?" Cheese queried, after a few seconds.

Aaria bit her lip.

"Chelsea, I don't know for sure," -She paused to check the other four men weren't eavesdropping- "but I think we might be in Middle Earth."

Cheese frowned.

"I know, it sounds nuts, I thought so too. I just woke up here like you did, and I saw an orc about to attack Boromir," -She gestured behind her to the men- "and alerted him. Then we started talking, and I figured it all out, so I fainted again. I only just woke up."

Cheese was still frowning, but this time was staring at Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and Boromir standing awkwardly a few feet away. Suddenly Aragorn piped up, seeing the girls apparently finish their conversation.

"Well, if you girls are okay, we must be off. Our friends have been kidnapped by orcs and it is imperative we reach them before they reach an alternative, and most likely ugly, fate."

Cheese turned to Aaria.

"Okay, you're right, this is nuts. But if this is real, this should be the time Pippin and Merry got kidnapped, so shouldn't Boromir be dead by now?"

All colour drained from Aaria's face.

_"I changed the story."_ With that, she spun around to face the men and sprinted toward them.

"Aragorn! Look, I know this is stupid, but we have to go with you." Cheese frowned. _"What are you doing?!" _She whispered. Aaria shushed her and turned back to Aragorn who was also frowning. God, there was a lot of frowning going on today.

"I am sorry, Miss, but we cannot allow that to happen. You must stay behind, for we are late as it is. And how do you know my name?"

"It's a long story, but we really do have to go with you. If you do not let us, we will follow you anyway. You cannot stop us, and you're running out of time. Take us."

Aaria set her jaw stubbornly and crossed her arms. After a few seconds of careful thought, he groaned.

"Fine! Come along, but if you slow us down, I'll swear I will feed you to the orcs. Let us be off!"

And so the six set off. A dwarf, an elf, two men, and the two women. Looking down, the girls realised that they were not at all equipped for the adventure ahead. Aaria was wearing jeans, jandals and an oversized elder scrolls shirt whereas Cheese was clothed in shorts and a tank top with stylish boots. No wonder the men looked at them with awe. Their clothing was far too modern. They would have to change at the first chance they got, and if their memories were correct, that would be quite a while.

As soon as they got a chance to talk in private, Cheese turned to Aaria.

_"What was that?!" _She hissed.

"Logical! We can't survive on our own, it was really lucky we happened to land at this particular time when there were friends around! Besides," -She made sure no one was listening and lowered her voice to make sure- _"Boromir has to die."_

**A/N WOAAAAAAH! XD Another dun dun duuuuun moment, yay! Anyway, some people *lookspointedlyatgoldie* have been asking where Mitchell and Alex are, soo I can promise you that we will find out in next chapter... Stay tuned! :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N Ermagerd! So pumped for this chapter! :D I know, I know, still pretty short. -_- Grr, my short stories are always too long and my novel chapters tend to be the opposite, it's just me. **

**Anyways, sorry for being so late to update, I was busy being lazy, and playing videogames, and working on a drawing of the characters... (Goldie'll know what I'm talking about. Yep, it's pretty much finished! :D)**

**So yeah, that's it for updates on my (what-I-call) life. (Miranda reference) This is the chapter where we finally meet Alex and Mitchell properly! And ah, fun fact, the flashback is, in fact, based off of real feelings and events. :/ Young love... It sucks...**

**On with words! :D**

...

She was beautiful. Twirling on the stage. The other girls were good, but she stood out like a swan among ducks. They would never be as graceful as her.

It was the end of year junior prize giving, and thirteen-year-old Aaria Greenewood sat captivated in her seat. She knew the girl. Her name was Ella. She was the girl Mitchell loved.

They were friends, sort of, but Aaria never truly accepted her as one. For jealousy is a highly influential disease, seeping into the depths of one's mind and twisting the jewel-like fantasies found within into smoking husks of forgotten dreams.

Despite the fact that Ella didn't love him back, she still sobbed into her pillow the night of the junior prom, when Mitchell had asked Ella out. _"Why does he prefer her over me?!" _She had screamed, muffled by the pillow over her face, _"We've known each other since Primary School, he's only known her for half a year!" _

These questions, fuelled by rage and jealousy had stayed in her mind, taunting her for the whole year whenever she happened to catch a glance of Mitchell's glossy hair, his shining eyes, his mischievous smirk.

But as she sat engrossed in the performance, she saw that the small, bubbly girl in her art class had transformed in her eyes from an ugly duckling, to a swan. And she realised; that this must be what he saw, whenever he looks at her.

With tears running down her cheeks, she knew then, that Mitchell would never see her like he did Ella.

…

Mitchell woke up in the middle of the woods. He had opened his eyes expecting to awaken in his college dorm with his roommate and best friend Alex, but it was only the latter half of the expectation that came to pass. Sure, Alex woke up beside him, which gave some normality into the situation, but when he looked up, all he saw were trees.

"What the fuck?!" He heard a voice exclaim beside him, as Alex leapt off of the grass. "I swear, if James dragged us out of bed again and into the woods this time, he's going to wake up and find himself in the river!"

Mitchell laughed, nervously.

"Calm down, dude. All he did was fill your Watchdogs cap with shaving cream that one time. Not exactly enough to hold a grudge"

Alex pouted. "That was my lucky cap... I beat FNaF 2 wearing it."

Mitchell grinned. "Come on, let's see if we can find civilisation."

…

They had been walking south for a while now. They figured that they must be in Bledisloe park, just north of the University, so they found the sun and started heading south. It had been about half an hour, they assumed, but the trouble was that Mitchell's watch was glitching out all of a sudden and refused to work properly. It did work, but occasionally the numbers would flicker and change, soon reverting back to normal.

"Arghh! Damn this thing!" He groaned as he smacked the watch, which caused unintentional pain around his wrist.

"It need new batteries?" Alex asked.

"Nah, I changed them just a few days ago. Dunno what's up with it, it's fairly new."

"Ah well. We can see what's up with it when we get back to Massey."

_If _we get back.The unpleasant thought had flashed through Mitchell's mind like a streaker on a rugby field before he could stop it, and his brows furrowed with worry at the possibility. What if they were wrong about their location? They couldn't be that deep into the park, it was illogical for someone to go to that much trouble just to prank them.

Now that he thought about it, he hadn't happened to see anybody around, even though it was about two o'clock. And there were no paths or benches slathered with bird faeces as was normal for a public park.

Shaking his head, he dismissed the uneasy thoughts, telling himself that it was alright, that he was in Bledisloe. Where else could he be? It was going to be all right. Alex and he would stumble across University Avenue and see Massey before them, where he would greet his friends, laugh off this little incident, and head back to the dorm.

"Man, are you sure we're going the right way?" Alex tore him out of his thoughts.

"Uhh, yeah, I'm pretty sure. Hang on, I'll check again."

Quick as a flash, Mitchell was up a tree, staring up at the sun. When he came down a few minutes later, he nodded.

"Yeah, I'm absolutely sure."

Alex frowned.

"How do you know we are actually in Bledisloe?"

Mitchell rolled his eyes. "Well where else do you think we'd be?"

"Umm, I dunno. We could be at Yellowstone for all we know."

"Yeah, 'cause they'd drag us all the way to America. But really, I don't see any other possibility. Do you?" Mitchell replied calmly.

Alex grumbled to himself, opened his mouth to say something, but closed it soon after.

Typical Alex. Always looking for an argument, and always losing.

The two walked in silence for another ten minutes or so, before Alex broke the silence once again.

"Hey, remember that time at high school when we were on that class trip, and that chick, Ella I think her name was, got her period suddenly?" He laughed.

Mitchell whirled around, eyes piercing lasers into the other's heart.

"Dude, shut up about Ella, okay? That little, uhh... incident, must have been humiliating for her."

Alex shrugged. "Just saying, I thought it was a little funny. Hey, didn't you like her at some point?"

"Look, stop talking about it. Why do you ask anyway?"

"I dunno. I mean, did you ever get anywhere with her?"

"No. How about you? How long did Tory last?"

Alex frowned. "Hey, don't speak of Tory. She just- wasn't the right one."

"Oh, like Shannon or Priscilla or Leith?" Mitchell shot back. He wasn't easily aggravated, but whenever someone talked about Ella, his words turned to poison.

"NO! Now drop it!"

"You started it! I mean, maybe if you hadn't been so quick about it, making out with chicks at the age of thirteen, you wouldn't have ended up breaking so many hearts!"

"SHUT UP!" Alex screamed, launching himself into Mitchell's chest and tackling him to the ground.

Mitchell gave a cry of surprise combined with annoyance, and rolled over, throwing a few not-so-well-aimed punches. Alex rolled them over again and kicked him in the shins, making the other groan in not so much pain, and more anger. They weren't exactly the best fighters.

But as the two wrestled, or tried to, they had no way of knowing.

They were surrounded.

**A/N Nuuu, third cliff-hanger in a row! XD (Can't help it, suspense is fun. :P) Pleeeeeeeeease review! I mean, reviews mean feedback. Feedback means improvement, improvement means confidence, confidence means good shtuff. No reviews? No confidence, which leads to not wanting to write in the first place. So we may as well just not write at all, if nobody's reviewing. Nice little sprinkling of sad feelings for you guys to think about. **

**Yeah.**

**Review! :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N Yay! Chapter 5! I wasn't really sure about this one, I just found it hard to write and not as descriptive as I would've liked. **

**Anyway, in other news, I'm working on a cover photo thing, so hopefully that'll be up soon, and it won't look as ridiculous as my last attempt did. XD **

**Oh, and a Merry (and Pippin) Christmas to all! :D**

**On with chapter!**

...

"Now I'm going to remove my hand, okay?" The dark-haired hobbit asked, whispering.

Selena nodded, eyes wide in amazement. The pale hand gently and gingerly slid off of her jaw, and she tested it, moving it in a circular motion.

"What's your name, fellow hobbit?"

Selena frowned. "Hobbit? What do you mean?"

"Shh! Keep it down," -Merry whispered, gesturing behind him to a pack of orcs- "we're not allowed to talk. Now, you are a hobbit, are you not? You're feet appear to be rather large inside your shoes, and your ears have a slight point. Actually, I seem to recall your feet fitting in these boots perfectly when I first saw you, and your hair seemed much straighter yesterday."

Selena frowned, looking down at her feet, which she realised hurt a lot, although they didn't before she woke up, as they were bulging out of her sneakers. She tried to sit up to take them off, but Pippin pushed her back down.

"Are you mad, Miss?!" -He hissed- "stop attempting to get us caught. If you really want to see your feet, we will remove your odd-looking boots."

And so they did remove them, with difficulty, due to the fact that their hands were bound, like Selena's. But when they were finally removed, she almost screamed again. They were indeed very large and covered with thick black hairs that matched the shade of the silky and now curly strands on her head. Startled, she moved her bound hands to her ears and felt the tip end in a slight point.

Selena had been absolutely obsessed with Lord of the Rings as a child, and she had no doubt that she had, indeed, somehow turned into a hobbit. But that was not logically possible! Not to mention how she had got to Middle Earth in the first place, but here she was.

Pinching herself, she reluctantly accepted it. She was awake, and this was real. Unless, of course, she had simply gone mad, which she thought entirely possible at this point. Maybe she was having crazy hallucinations stimulated by her childhood. She had, after all, seen Cheese, or what looked to be her lying in the bushes before she'd been knocked out- speaking of which, how long had she been out?

"How long was I out?" She whispered, breaking her thoughtful gaze.

"Two days. You got hit very hard." Merry answered, his eyes straying to Selena's temple. She brought her hand up further and winced when she felt a large lump under her hair.

She had to get her thoughts organised.

So she had, apparently, somehow been transported to Middle Earth, and was now with Pippin and Merry, when they had been captured by orcs.

Good news? She was fangirling like crazy right now. Bad news? She had been captured by freaking orcs!

But then there was the matter of Cheese. She thought she had captured a glimpse of her face. Granted, she must be about twenty years old by now, but she'd know her anywhere. Her grey-green eyes and carroty hair that she kept in twin plaits had been imprinted on one of the many scrolls of her memory. Some were old and faded, torn at the edges, but others were new and fresh, and had yet to be drawn on.

Those were the ones that would soon be filled with pictures of orcs and hobbits, ents and elves. Maybe, even, a little gold ring.

…

It had been two days. Aaria had never been much of an athlete, unlike Cheese, who sprinted across the grass on her long legs. It had been really hard, running after this pack of orcs, and what little rest she had had, had been too short. But all the same, it was better than having to wake up as early as possible for fear that Vern would stop her before she could leave. But she did miss her violin.

"Keep up, Aaria, you're slowing them down!" Cheese encouraged, slowing down to help her.

"I… I can't… I'm not a natural sprinter like you dwarves!" She groaned, looking at Gimli, who turned, raising his eyebrows questioningly, but Cheese waved him away.

"Aaria, come along! We must away!" Aragorn frowned.

Seeing his disapproving glare, Aaria narrowed her eyes and suddenly shot ahead with a sudden burst of energy, leaving a gawking Aragorn to eat her dust.

…

The moon had risen by the time the six travelers had stopped to rest. They ate a chunk of lembas each and settled down to sleep, leaving Legolas on watch.

"Aaria-" someone whispered. It was Cheese.

"What are we going to do about- you know?"

Turning in Cheese's direction, Aaria looked around, making sure no one was eavesdropping, and replied; "I don't know, but we have to do something, he's not supposed to be alive. We could've ruined the story."

"How do we know that we ruined the story?"

"I've seen almost every time travel themed movie ever made. We've ruined it by simply being here. Boromir was supposed to die, so…"

Cheese's eyes widened. "You mean we have to _kill _him?!" She hissed.

"If it comes to it."

"But we- there's no way! We can't! He's not evil, he'll probably do more good alive than dead!"

"How can you be sure? He _did_ try to steal the ring from Frodo. He may even try to again, if he gets the opportunity."

"But, that wouldn't happen. Frodo's long gone by now."

"Yes, but there's still a possibility." -Aaria bit her lip- "Okay, how about this. We keep a very close eye on him, and if he shows any signs of suspicious behaviour, we do what we have to do."

Cheese looked conflicted. She knew that what Aaria said made sense, but at the same time, she knew she could never kill anybody. Finally, she simply nodded, and went back to sleep.

…

"Aaria, Cheese, we must leave at once! Get up, we have overslept!" The entrancingly melodious voice of Legolas drifted through the air.

Cheese sat up groaning, frowned, and her eyes widened.

"Oh, shit! Aaria!"

But she was already up, and was looking around the campsite with a paranoid expression on her face.

"...Where's Boromir?"

**Sorry, sorry, so many cliff-hangers... XD I just can't help myself... But we will learn who it is that is spying on Alex and Mitchell in the next chapter! **

**But until then... Please reviewreviewreviewreview! :DD**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N Yay! Chapter six! *pants from exhaustion* Sorry for the delay, guys, I just kind of lost my motivation for this chapter about halfway through. :/ But in compensation, this is the longest chapter yet! :D Here we find out who it was that had surrounded Mitchell and Alex. (Oooh... intriguing... :3)**

**Review replies!**

**Goldie: Yes. I like cliff-hangers. Deal with it. XD**

**Marty: Hey, thanks, dude! Not sure what you meant by Mitchell-Alex thing, but yeah, all the non-canon characters are based off of real people. :3 Leith is a random name I made up, it's up to Alex to decide whether or not she's a girl XD as for Cheese, I was asking real-life Cheese (Ginny) what she wanted to be called and she said Cheese, which is apparently the name of her trumpet? That right, Ginny? Haha. **

**Ginny: **_**He isn't?! Ermagerd! **_***starts screaming like the lovesick teenage girl I am Sam (Gamgee) I am***

**Prof. Bxt Rm36c: (Gods, could you make your name any harder to write? XD) Thank you so much for this reply, I like criticisms, and this particularly opened my eyes to a lot of flaws I would've otherwise overlooked. I will work on the argument involving Mitchell and Alex, many others also questioned that (one or two.) You will find out about the transformation in this chapter, though (hopefully). I'm also working on another guide-thing explaining how it all works, so stay tuned for that. :3 Also, they will get equipped eventually, and lastly, Aaria was referring to the entire dwarfish race. (In The Two Towers movie, Gimli remarks; "we dwarves are natural sprinters!" and she was making a reference) So, assuming I've answered all your questions, (again, thank you. :) On with chapter! :D ('Cause this author's note is WAY too long.)**

...

The two young men wrestled together on the grass. They weren't actually angry with each other; it was more of a play fight. They tended to do this whenever things got… actually; they pretty much did this all the time. The fact that they were both almost twenty years old meant nothing. They were still only half that at heart.

After a few minutes, an arrow suddenly whizzed into a tree trunk, just inches from Alex's face.

"Holy shit!" He cried, leaping off of Mitchell to his feet. "Where the heck did that come from?"

Mitchell stood up and grabbed the arrow out of the tree. It was sleek and shiny, with yellow feathers at the end. Beautifully crafted, yet incredibly deadly. Looking up, he saw a figure standing beyond the tree line.

"Alex-" -he hissed- "shut up."

Alex stopped and looked where Mitchell was looking, squinting through the trees.

"I don't see anyth- urk!"

Mitchell spun around to face his friend, but he was gone. And as he did so, a thick cloth sack slid over his face.

"Hey, what the-" But as soon as he started protesting, a long, thin, and very sharp blade of a knife pressed against his throat.

"Quiet, outlander. Be still. Now walk or we will drag you."

Mitchell stubbornly refused, but when he was brought to his knees and dragged along the ground in his thin, blue flannel pyjamas, he obediently stood and started walking.

…

Mitchell didn't know how long he'd been half-dragged through the woods, hours? It felt like hours. But then that always happens when the mind has nothing to think about. Not that this was true. He was puzzling over who their kidnappers were, why they were doing this, how he and Alex were going to escape… Speaking of which, he'd only really assumed that Alex was with him, but he didn't know for sure.

This thought caused him to halt for a second.

"Keep moving." A voice ordered him.

"A- Alex. Where is he?" Mitchell stuttered.

"Right here, bro."

"Quiet!" The same voice ordered him again. But he didn't care. Alex was still here, thank God.

"Where are we going?" He heard Alex blurt out.

"To our hideout," A new voice explained. This one sounded younger than the others, and wasn't as harsh, more like an excited young boy who'd found some firecrackers in his older brother's wardrobe. "Captain Faramir has ordered any outsiders be taken for questioning."

Just then the same voice from before ordered him to "stop talking to the prisoners!"

Things didn't look good.

…

'It has been one whole day,' -Alex wrote in his mental diary- 'it is now nightfall, and we have been walking all this time. The ground is soft beneath us, like a marsh. Mitchell and I have no idea where we are, or how far we are from Massey. I am beginning to suspect we are very far, perhaps in another country, although that is entirely illogical. We have been trekking across this marsh for most of the day, and have stopped to rest. The younger kidnapper, he says his name is Léofwine, is kinder to us than the others. Most of them are asleep now, and I believe Mitchell is as well, but I cannot see for sure, as the sack is still over my head. I still don't know exactly where they're taking us and when we'll get our bonds removed, but I hope it's soon, so we may get some answers.'

"Alex…?" a voice whispered somewhere to his left. It sounded like Mitchell.

"Do you have any idea where we are?" Alex shook his head; soon realising Mitchell couldn't see him either. "No. You?"

Mitchell hesitated. "I have an idea, but it's freaking crazy."

"Yes? I'm open to any ideas at the moment."

"Well, the environment seems pretty strange, all the marsh and woods and stuff. And there are the rather old-fashioned methods of custody. But then, Léofwine did mention something about a 'Captain Faramir'. Any of this seem familiar to you?"

Alex shook his head once again, then scolding himself silently. "Get to the point, dude."

"Middle Earth. You know, from that guy… what was his name again? Tolkien or something? The setting in Lord of the Rings. He wrote the books. Captain Faramir, that's the dude who captured Frodo and Sam in The Two Towers."

"The what now? Dude, did you fall out of the tree when you were looking for the sun?"

"I'm serious. It's completely insane, but it seems like the only logical explanation, although it would seem like the opposite when you say it out loud."

"Uhh, yeah. Just- go to sleep, dude. We'll figure it out when we get to wherever it is they're taking us."

The quiet scuffling that followed signalled that Mitchell had moved away. Alex frowned inside the bag. Could what his friend suggested actually be possible? Surely not, it was ridiculous. Still, what he'd observed did make sense.

…

"Keep moving, outlanders. We're almost there."

The two captives had had a handful of dried fruit, and some crusty bread with rather salty cheese each. Not the breakfasts they were used to, and Mitchell observed that this, too, was evidence as to his theory of where they were, an observation that Alex simply shook off.

It was now about noon on the second day, and they were absolutely exhausted. But they kept on going, otherwise they would be dragged through the forest ground, rocks and tree roots gouging away at their knees and ankles. It reminded Alex of when they were in Primary School, and they would knuckle swear not to admit to a prank or some other petty promise, otherwise they would be 'forced' to scrape their knuckles over the concrete.

This he had actually done once before, just to show he could do it. He had never once agreed to a knuckle swear again.

The whip-like voice of the harsh man from yesterday ripped him out of his memories.

"We're here. Step up."

'All in'. Alex automatically said in his mind, reminded of the movie they'd watched in school, as he grinned to himself, and fought off the urge to suddenly start break dancing.

This was an unwise thought, as he found himself tripping and falling at the sudden elevation of the ground and landed flat on his face. The bag slid down a little, allowing him a quick glance at his surroundings. He was lying on the dirt, with a canopy of leaves above him. Rock was behind him, and he could sense a doorway carved into it, as one senses a person looking at them from somewhere out of sight. Mitchell was standing a few feet away, a sack over his head. He was still wearing his blue flannel pyjamas, (now rather grubby) from when they had gone to bed however long ago it was in their dorm at Massey.

But then he turned his attention to their abductors. Standing around Mitchell and him were about half a dozen men, and they were all dressed like Garret from Thief, one of his videogames. Wearing hoods and face masks, with bows and quivers of arrows on their backs. It was crazy, but he began to understand why Mitchell was so convinced about where they were. They looked exactly like the Gondorians, or whatever they were called from The Two Towers movie.

One of them bent down and held out a hand, his eyes sparkling kindly but uncertainly. He had blondish-brown wavy hair that poked out from under his hood and soft brown eyes.

"You okay outlander?" He asked, voice slightly muffled from the face mask. It was Léofwine.

Alex gladly accepted the hand and stood, looking around some more, but Léofwine pushed the bag back down over his head.

"Apologies, but you're not allowed to see just yet. Just keep walking. And remember to step up this time."

Grinning weakly inside the sack, Alex stepped into the tunnel carved within the rock.

…

"We're about to remove the sacks, outlanders. Now mind you behave."

When the sacks were removed, Mitchell and Alex shielded their eyes from the light for a second as they waited for their eyes to adjust.

They heard a gasp somewhere to the left and then in front of them a voice spoke.

"I thought you said you were presenting two men, not a halfling and an elf."

"We were, Captain! They were- they were men when we caught them first" It was the harsh voice from before.

"Do you take me for a fool, Madril? Is this some trickery you're trying to pull on me?" -the Captain sighed- "Nevermind. Be gone."

Mitchell and Alex's eyes were adjusted, but their gain of sight didn't remove any of their confusion. Opposite them, at the wooden table they were sitting at sat a tall and broad-shouldered young man. He had dark hair and green eyes, and a rather authoritative air about him. Lounging in the chair before them, he studied the two before finally querying;

"My men say you were of similar race to us when they first captured you. Yet you sit before me entirely different. A hobbit" -he studied Alex- "and an elf." -he finished, examining Mitchell.

Alex frowned. "But we are tho- _holy cow!_" He scrambled back in his seat. Mitchell looked the same as always, except he was suddenly much taller than Alex, who'd always been the taller one. But that wasn't the strangest thing. His ears were pointed.

Mitchell turned to look at the other and his eyes widened. Alex's hair was still a mass of dark brown curls, as usual, but he had shrunk to the height of a child, and his ears also ended in points.

"Woahkay, this is freaking trippy." Alex remarked, as the two studied each other curiously and a little fearfully.

They were interrupted by the voice of Captain Faramir.

"You mean to tell me that you were men before?" He asked, frowning.

"Uhh… I think so. All I know is that we woke up in the middle of the woods and we have no clue what is happening." Alex laughed, nervously.

"Tell me everything." Faramir said.

Mitchell took a deep breath. "Well, we woke up expecting to be in our dorm room at Massey, but we were lying in the middle of the woods. Then we just started walking south, thinking someone had played a prank on us and we were in Bledisloe park just north of Massey, but then we-."

"And _bam! _We're in bloody Middle Earth." Alex interrupted, ignoring Mitchell's scowl.

Faramir had remained frowning throughout the somewhat brief explanation, but know he stood.

"It is clear you are delusional. I have never heard of 'Massey' or 'Bledisloe Park' or a 'dorm', whatever or wherever these things are. You must have hit your heads. The fact that you believe you were men once provides further evidence." And with that, he abruptly swept out of the room, (they now realised it was a rocky cavern) and left without another word, leaving the two astounded.

Alex turned to Mitchell. "This is insane. We can't actually be in Middle Earth."

"Well it's the only possible explanation. We've been captured by Captain Faramir and the rangers of Ithilien, we have somehow turned from humans into an elf and a hobbit, and we are completely screwed."

**A/N No cliff-hanger this time! (You're welcome, Goldie, haha.) Again, the transformation process thing will be explained in the guide I am writing.**

**Oh, and I know this has barely any followers, but for what it's worth, everybody should go check out Goldie Gamgee's lotr fanfiction 'We Four Stand Together', it is an absolutely incredible and breathtaking story and deserves the attention of everyone in The Universe, whether they be dead or no. ;) (You'll probably recognise a few of the characters. :3) **

**But yeah, hope you enjoyed this chapter, (pleeeease review, it makes me happy. :) and I'll see you! In the next chapter. Ba bye! (Markiplier reference, did anybody get it? :3)**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N ...Sorry. :3 I just lost motivation for this chapter entirely about halfway through, that's why it took so long... *crawls into corner and hides* **

**Just to clarify, this fanfiction is book verse. Random fact of the day #736. XD**

**Chaptah tim!**

...

The entire camp was in uproar. Somehow Boromir had slipped away in the night, but nobody knew when, how or why.

Aaria was freaking out, whispering to herself so no one could hear her; that they wouldn't be able to mend what they had done by coming here, that he had to die but they couldn't do it anymore…

Cheese frowned and sat next to her. Looking around to make sure nobody was eavesdropping, she whispered; "Look, this is completely insane. I've said it before. But we have to keep moving. We have to get help, maybe from Gandalf or someone. We'll meet him in a few days in Fangorn, you know this. But we can't sit here feeling sorry for ourselves. We must push on."

And with that she stood and held out a hand to Aaria, which she took, after brushing a tear from her cheek.

"You're right. We have to keep moving."

Cheese looked up to see Aragorn speaking with Legolas and Gimli, paying almost no attention to the women. He was frowning, but then this wasn't unusual these days.

"He must have slipped away when he was on watch."

"How do you know?" Cheese piped up suddenly. Aragorn looked up at her sharply.

"Because it's what I would've do-"

"What? What is it?" Cheese asked, confused. He was staring at her. Actually, he was staring at both her and Aaria. She turned and looked at her friend.

"Aaria, what are they stari-" Cheese realised what they were so amazed at, for she saw Aaria had changed, seemingly overnight. Aaria was suddenly much taller than her, and her curly mass of hair had started to straighten. But that wasn't all. Because behind a tangled, chocolate-brown lock was a pointed ear.

"You- you've changed race. Aaria, you're an elf!"

The elf looked down at herself through her thick glasses, then up again at Cheese. "B- but you're a dwarf!"

Cheese instantly brought a hand to her chin, and sure enough, the wisp of tell-tale stubble had started growing there.

"_WHAT?! I can't grow a beard, I'm a woman!" _

And then she pretty much lost it and started yanking at the tiny hairs, but to no avail. The ginger 5 o'clock shadow was there to stay.

"I don't mean to interrupt your discoveries, as we are about as dumbfounded as you are, but we _must _push on!"

The look Cheese gave Aragorn next gave new meaning to the phrase 'if looks could kill'. Aaria put a hand on her shoulder.

"Come on, we should do as he says."

Sighing, Cheese nodded.

And so, the once six and now five set off North-West in search of the orc pack.

...

Five or so hours later, after running up a small hill, they caught sight of the black streak that was Fangorn Forest in the distance, and since this was the only change they had seen in the landscape for two and a half days, they now picked up speed, hopeful.

There was no sound but the constant huffing of the travelers as they sprinted through the long, slightly yellowed grass. But all the while Aaria continued to think to herself; _I hope we haven't messed up the story too much, If we've caused even the slightest delay, we could have completely wrecked the storyline… But soon we'll meet the riders of Rohan, and then see the pile of burnt orc carcasses. Hey, then we'll meet Gandalf! Maybe he can help us. Yes, that's what we'll do!_

Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw a thin line of smoke rising from the horizon.

"Th- there!" She panted.

Aragorn looked up and frowned (again) but said nothing.

…

Aaria had a history of daydreaming. As she ran with the others, she found her mind was leaving her body and flying through the landscape. Her gaze drifted drowsily, looking at everything, but seeing nothing.

The grass stretched everywhere, endless yellow-green stems bursting through the ground. They were infinite, sort of like the human race from her world. They would grow everywhere and thrive in almost every location, but everyone had different thoughts and opinions.

Every one of them thought they were the most important blade of grass in the field, yet not one of them was right.

This thought scared her, so her mind drifted further towards the horizon.

Beyond the uplands of Rohan stood the black trees of Fangorn forest, and with them, the Ents. How she longed to walk among them, converse with the shepherds of the forest of things ancient and beautiful. She would stride beside them and see the trees, the grass, the waters. And she would stay there, content with the wilderness.

Startled, she shook herself. She had always loved nature, yes, but this was going too far. It was the elf in her talking, and no matter how comforting it was, she feared it. She couldn't go setting up shop in Fangorn, for she and Cheese had to find a way to get back home!

With that last, defiant thought, she stared angrily beyond the forest to Methedras, the last of the misty mountains.

But something caught her eye, far away, near the forest. It would have been a dark, swift-moving blur to men, but to her it was the small figures of horsemen, many horsemen.

Because without knowing, her bright green mortal eyes were slowly developing into those of elves.

…

It was pitch black. The night enveloped the three hobbits, lying bound on their fronts. A tree branch hung just over their heads, so close, Selena felt she could touch it. All was peaceful (or as peaceful as you can get when you've been kidnapped by orcs), the firelight flickering a few metres away from them. The orcs had cut down a few of the trees previously to build it, and stumps littered the bare, trodden earth.

The uruk-hai stood in a huddle around the fire, crouching in the odd, bent manner that all orcs stand in.

Surrounding them, around the small hill the orcs were camping at were the Rohirrim. Selena had read of this particular battle many times, and her muscles were tense with worry.

Occasionally a rider would stray close to the orc camp, and they would stare at the orcs, a shadowy form just beyond reach of the eye.

Selena was torn away from her thoughts when she felt a large, knobbly and very hairy hand pawing at her back. She would have slapped it away in other circumstances, but since her hands were bound, she compensated by turning around to face the perpetrator.

But this didn't help, as she was suddenly dragged toward the being. In the dark, she was dimly aware of Merry and Pippin also being dragged along the ground.

With a slight gasp, she realised it was Grishnakh.

"Well, my little ones!" -said Grishnakh in a soft whisper- "Enjoying your nice rest? Or not?" He continued to speak, but Selena wasn't really listening, as she closely watched his long, hairy arm begin to grope Pippin.

"I don't think you will find it that way," -he whispered- "it isn't easy to find."

They kept talking, but Selena had stopped listening entirely.

'_This is nuts. This is nuts. This is nuts. This is nuts.' _She repeated in her head. _'I'm actually being groped by Grishnakh. This is nuts. This is nuts. This is nuts.'_

"Untie our legs" Selena heard Merry say. She was hearing them, but she was not listening.

"Curse you, you filthy little vermin! Untie your legs? I'll untie every string in your bodies. Do you think I can't search you to the bones? Search you! I'll cut you both to quivering shreds. I don't need the help of your legs to get you away and have you all to myself!"

And then Grishnakh picked up the three hobbits, his hands over their mouths, and silently crept to the edge of the forest, and stalked along it, heading toward the river. Selena had shaken herself out of her near vegetative state and was gazing with wide eyes around her. None of the orcs saw Grishnakh as he headed down the slope, paused, searching blindly in the darkness for any riders, and started forward again.

It was at that moment that the shadowy form of a rider burst into vision directly in front of him.

...

**A/N Yeah, Grishnakh! Never liked that guy. Gonna make him die a gruesome, twisted death in which he gets his insides ripped out in a bloodied mess. Yep... (Not really. Just that little sadistic voice inside of my head being annoying. Ignore her.)**

**Hope you liked that bit with Cheese, hehe. (I just had to make her grow a beard, just had to. Don't question me. XD)**

**I will make sure that the next chapter (hold on, it might be a boring one, I'll check-) Ehh, not that boring. (I hope.) Shouldn't take as long as this one did.**

**Anyways, thanks for reading, I'll see you in another two weeks! XD**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N ...Stop looking at me like that! XD Yeah, yeah, I know it took ages, but I'm just not good at sticking with a big project. It's hard, okay? But I'll try, for my followers of which are few. :3 **

**I actually have another project which I am working on, though so stay tuned for that. (I am soooo excited for it!) No, I'm not giving any hints. You'll just have to wait. :P**

**Wasn't too sure about this chapter, I would've liked it to be longer, but I couldn't really figure out how to keep writing, and Goldie's been threatening to burst into tears and die ****again****, so I figured I'd better just post it. :3 Here ya go, folks! :D**

...

The night was beautiful, the moon and stars shining onto the small camp. That is, it was to all except Boromir, who found it suffocating. Ever since Amon Hen, he had felt absolutely horrible. Everything that had happened between him and Frodo he had regretted, and he could not stop thinking about it.

It was that ring. That confounded ring…

The woman with the round chunks of glass over her eyes, Aaria, stirred in her sleep, interrupting his thoughts. He looked around at the others.

There was Aragorn, a mighty warrior, and supposedly Isildur's heir. Legolas, elf of Mirkwood, and expert bowman. And Gimli, fierce, stubborn and not to be taken lightly in battle, no matter how much his height, well, lacked.

And finally Cheese, that strange dwarf woman, with strange garments and a strange name. She didn't seem like much, but then neither did Aaria, and they had both appeared from another world. Perhaps they were wizards? Or a new race? Maybe even Valar…

He banished these thoughts from his mind. The point was, the other five were probably enough to find the halflings without him, so maybe he could go and find Frodo and help him instead. After all, he did owe the hobbit. He was going to offer to go help Frodo at Amon Hen, but he didn't get the chance among all the ruckus.

He was on watch after all, so nobody would notice him gone until the morning, and by then he would be long gone, so they wouldn't be able to stop him. They had to go find Merry and Pippin. If he could find Frodo and Sam, he could help them get to Mount Doom, they would need a bodyguard.

Yes, of course! He thought, and he stood, cautiously, and slinked over to his pack lying on the other side of the camp. After going through it and making sure he had everything he would need, he started walking away from his friends. But looking back for one last glance, he studied the face of Aaria, the strange young woman, with the secret fire burning inside her heart. _Thank you, my lady. If it was not for you, I may now be dead._

And with that, he disappeared into the darkness beyond, to whatever his fate.

…

"There! Riders of Rohan, about a hundred, give or take. Each carry a spear. " -Aaria exclaimed.

Legolas nodded; "One hundred and five, to be exact." And it seemed to Aaria that he gave her a little side-ways glance and frowned, but when she looked back, he was once again turned to the Rohirrim with that same calm expression on his face.

Aragorn stopped, which seemed to be the cue for everyone to stop, as Gimli and Legolas immediately slowed.

"We will wait for them. I am weary, and our hunt has failed. Or at least others were before us; for these horsemen are riding back down the orc trail. We may get news from them."

"Or spears." Gimli butted in. Cheese giggled a little, and quickly received a pair of bushy, raised eyebrows from the male dwarf.

The company left the hilltop and receded back down, waiting for the riders.

Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli chatted about the people of Rohan while Cheese shuffled over to Aaria, who was sitting a little away from the rest of the group.

"Hey, what's up?"

Aaria looked up. "Oh, nothing. Just… confused, anxious, startled, scared, homesick, weary, and a few other things."

Cheese bit her lip. "Hey, I know how you feel. There are just too many questions… Why are we here, how did we get here, what's going to happen to us, what's going on back home. It's infuriating."

Aaria laughed, half-heartedly. "Yeah, it would be to you, wouldn't it? You hate not knowing stuff."

"Haha, true."

The two sat together for a bit, staring up at the clouds. Then Aaria asked the question. "What happened to you, Cheese? After high school, you just kinda drifted away. You didn't tell anybody where you went, you just disappeared. You didn't even talk to Selena after that, apparently."

Chelsea looked at her old friend.

"You wanna know what happened?" -The red-head took a deep breath- "When I left school, I went to America. The place where everybody's dreams come true, or so I thought, anyway. I figured that I would go there, audition for some role in musical theatre, get in, and be ace. Turns out, that only happens in fairy tales. That's all I'm gonna say."

Aaria had been scowling down at the grass while Cheese had been talking, all of her friend's words reminding her of her own life.

Of her old life.

The two sat in silence again, both now staring down at the grass, but then Cheese stirred.

"What about you? How's your writing career going? You may still be in school, but you're a damn good novelist."

Aaria looked up at her friend, a thin sheen of tears sparkling in her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but just as she was about to, the tears disappeared and a frown took place.

"What is it?" Chelsea asked, only to have Aaria hold up a hand in commanding silence.

Then she looked up sharply toward the slope. "They're here."

And without any further explanation, she stood and stared straight up the hill, poised and watching like a hawk. Just seconds afterward, the one-hundred-and-five riders poured over the slope like a wave of unforgiving, writhing water.

Aragorn stood and called "What news from the north, Riders of Rohan?"

They continued to gallop forth over the hill, but when they were all down, they started circling back, and before the five knew it, they were surrounded.

Aaria and Cheese had been forced back toward Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, and the men immediately pushed them to the centre of the circle, without regards to their protests.

"Oi! We don't have to be protected, ya know!"

"Yeah, we may not be badass warriors like you guys, but we don't need babysitters!"

Aragorn: "Hush."

Legolas: "Just in case, ladies."

Gimli: "What's a babysitter?"

"Who are you and what are you doing in these lands?" Asked the rider.

"I am called Strider. I came out of the north, and I am hunting orcs."

The rider stared at Aragorn as he spoke. "There is something strange about you, Strider. That is no name for a man to have, and strange, too, is your raiment. Have you sprung out of the grass? How did you escape our sight? Are you elvish folk?"

"No," replied Aragorn. "Only one, ah, two of us are elves. Legolas from the woodland realm in distant Mirkwood and Aaria Greenewood, of 'New Zeallah'."

"New Zealand." Aaria corrected, frowning.

The rider nodded, uncertainly. He obviously hadn't heard of New Zealand either. He turned to Gimli, Legolas and Cheese. "Why do you not speak, silent ones?

"Give me your name, horse master, and I shall give you mine." Gimli replied steadily, unaware that Aaria was mouthing his words. _I would cut off your head, dwarf, if it stood but a little higher from the ground. _She started to mouth, but was surprised when that was not what came next.

_Of course,_ she thought, _we must be in _bookverse._ Dammit, I spend my whole life memorising the script from the _movies_, and then I get transported into the _book_._

Dammit indeed.

...

The five were covering the five leagues that stood between them and Fangorn forest with as much speed as the Rohirrim had previously. Aragorn had been given Hasufel, a great dark-grey horse, Legolas and Gimli Arod, a smaller white mare, and Aaria and Cheese had Treyva, a large pinto.

The women had been unsure at first, as neither had had much experience with horses, but when Aaria gingerly mounted him, she found she could control him easily. Cheese grinned when she got up behind her.

"Must be your elvish blood. Pretty cool, actually."

Aaria bit her lip. "Cool, I s'pose. Freakin' insane, definitely."

They were closing in on Fangorn now, toward that thin wisp of smoke that continued to rise ever slowly. Night was closing in steadily, and Aaria could sense the far-off scent of rain hanging in the still air.

Here and there a slain orc lay fallen on the dry grass, grey-feathered arrows lodged into their backs or throats. Aaria swallowed and kept riding.

At last, when the afternoon had nearly been spent, they reached the forest.

Aaria dismounted, before giving Treyva a little pat. Cheese dropped beside her soon after. "Okay, that was awesome. Haven't ridden a freaking horse for years." And she wandered a little away from the elf girl, rambling to herself in delight. Aaria smiled, but when she turned towards Fangorn, the smile disappeared.

It was so green. So… natural. Nothing like the polluted nature parks back home. Without noticing, she started forward towards the trees, as if being pulled. As if enchanted.

She came to a tree and touched it gently, closing her eyes and feeling the rough bark. She could almost… feel it, but not exactly physically. It felt detached, almost, as if its life force hung in the small space between her and the actual tree.

"Oi, Aaria!" Cheese called. "C'mere!"

Aaria started, recoiling and backing away. She frowned, turned and kept walking, but as she did so, she couldn't help but look back at the tree one last time.

…

**A/N Hmm... Really unsure about the ending... What do you guys think? :/ (I'm telling you to review. Review, please. It makes me smile! :D See that? It's amazing!) Hmm, tell ya what, If I get... three reviews on this chapter, I'll release the other project that I'm working on early. Deal? It's not hard. Just click, type, and I smile!**

**Do it. XD (Guests can actually write reviews as well, by the way, If you're new to this site... Just making sure everyone knows. :3) **

**If you're still reading that means you haven't reviewed yet.**


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